The removal of entrained gases from liquids is an important exercise in a variety of manufacturing and/or analytical processes. An example process in which liquid degassing is widely utilized is in liquid chromatography applications.
It is well known that liquid chromatography pumping systems can be prone to ingesting gas such as air into the pumping mechanism. In some cases, such gas can form bubbles that can cause a liquid chromatography pump to deliver chromatographic solvent inaccurately where one or more gas bubbles occupy volume within a positive displacement pump instead of the desired solvent fluid. In addition, gas bubbles may interfere with the proper operation of check valves which may be disposed on the inlet side of the pump. Moreover, the presence of even small amounts of dissolved gases, and in particular oxygen, interferes with the accuracy and sensitivity of chromatographic analysis. The existence of bubbles can manifest itself as erroneous absorption signatures at the chromatographic detector.
Gas infiltration into, for example, liquid chromatography solvents may originate from a variety of sources. For example, switching solvent reservoirs in a given chromatographic system can result in gas bubble formation in the solvent inlet filter, and subsequently transfer to the pump inlet during pump operation. In addition, solvent supply reservoirs and the supply lines for chromatographic systems may also be a source for gas infiltration and bubble formation. A number of other sources for gasification of fluids utilized in manufacturing and/or analytical applications are also known.
While systems for degassing liquids have been developed and implemented, such conventional systems are typically incapable of efficiently removing gas bubbles from the host liquids. For example, when a bubble is entrained in one or more lumens of a tube degassing system, the effective surface area of such degasser is decreased, thereby substantially decreasing the degassing efficiency. In addition, typical degassing systems involve a relatively low fluid flow rate therethrough, such that a gas bubble may be entrained in the degassing system for a substantial period of time. In some cases, the gas bubbles remain intact throughout the degassing system residence time, and are accordingly not removed prior to utilization of the solvent by, for example, a chromatographic system.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a degassing system that is capable of efficiently removing gas bubbles from a liquid stream.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an integrated apparatus capable of simultaneously degassing a liquid and efficiently removing gas bubbles from such liquid.